# How much ethnicity needed to be the "first \_\_\_\_\_ President?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 23, 2019, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-ethnicity-needed-to-be-the-first-_____-president/828285 "2019-01-23T18:42:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-ethnicity-needed-to-be-the-first-_____-president/828285/21 "2019-01-24T18:27:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Being the first \ is about overcoming prejudice. So if you’re \ enough for people to be prejudiced against you, that’s enough. Exactly how much this would need to be would vary from case to case, and may depend on factors other than just percentage (for instance, skin color). This, Obama was 100% Black in the only way that counted: his skin color. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2019, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-ethnicity-needed-to-be-the-first-_____-president/828285/22 "2019-02-02T16:40:23Z")
> [@Ancient\_Erudite](#): > > Like many things, it’s up to the voter. However, when a politician makes a false claim, there should be some repercussions. For example, Warren kept saying she was Native American and may have used the status to advance her career. When the DNA test came back showing nothing, she rightly took a credibility hit. > > Being part Mexican didn’t help Mitt Romney win the Latino vote. Maybe because he was too tall and white. With 100% of sentences incorrect, this post ties the record! No, it’s up to FoxNews and the others who brainwash low-information voters. No, too many statements are false. There should however be repurcussions for blatant blather, frauds and treason; cf DJT. No, she didn’t advance her career with the claim. No, the DNA test didn’t show “nothing.” And No, Mitt Romney isn’t part Mexican. (I assume that in your dialect Obama wasn’t part Indonesian, and McCain wasn’t part Panamanian.) ---
**Author:** ![Grim\_Render](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@Grim\_Render](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grim_Render)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2019, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-ethnicity-needed-to-be-the-first-_____-president/828285/23 "2019-02-02T17:31:43Z")
> [@Ancient\_Erudite](#): > > For example, Warren kept saying she was Native American and may have used the status to advance her career. When the DNA test came back showing nothing, she rightly took a credibility hit. I follow some genetics blogs, and I believe her results showed native American ancestry massively higher than the amount you’d expect from an American of European extraction, consistent with a native American ancestor four to six generations back. Weather that qualifies her as a Native American is a different question. But the tests certainly didn’t show “nothing”, they showed Native American ancestry significantly above the US non-native baseline. Anyway, I think Charles Curtis qualifies as the first Native American Vice President. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2019, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-ethnicity-needed-to-be-the-first-_____-president/828285/24 "2019-02-02T19:28:11Z")
Ethnicity isn’t a matter of genetics, it’s a matter of culture. You’re a member of ethnicity A if you consider yourself a member of ethnicity A, and other members of ethnicity A consider you a member, and if non-members of ethnicity A consider you a member. Usually all those things line up. Sometimes they don’t, and then you have arguments over who’s “really” a member of ethnicity A. But ethnicity is a human cultural construct, not a fact of nature. It’s a matter of opinion. If you wanna argue that Obama wasn’t really black because he was raised by his white mother, well, that’s one opinion. And then there are 300 million other people who disagree with you. Of course in America Obama was black, because that’s how blackness works in America. Go over to Kenya and people might think differently. Take this famous photo of Obama with his father’s extended family: [https://cdn.face2faceafrica.com/www/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/http-2F2Fmashable.com2Fwp-content2Fgallery2Fobamas-1987-visit-to-kenya2Fobama-kenya-06.jpg](https://cdn.face2faceafrica.com/www/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/http-2F2Fmashable.com2Fwp-content2Fgallery2Fobamas-1987-visit-to-kenya2Fobama-kenya-06.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Kimera757](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimera757/32/3765_2.png) [@Kimera757](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimera757)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2019, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-ethnicity-needed-to-be-the-first-_____-president/828285/25 "2019-02-02T23:57:57Z")
From what I see, nobody can choose their race. Tiger Woods is multi-racial, and calls himself that, but he is black because black people, white people and people in general see him as black. Obama is bi-racial but he is seen as black. Your race is what people say of you. So a person could have, say, partly Latino and partly white heritage, but people will say one or the other based on what they look like. (Some of these people would be seen as Latino, and some not.) ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-ethnicity-needed-to-be-the-first-_____-president/828285/26 "2019-02-04T21:24:43Z")
> [@Kimera757](#): > > From what I see, nobody can choose their race. Tiger Woods is multi-racial, and calls himself that, but he is black because black people, white people and people in general see him as black. Obama is bi-racial but he is seen as black. Your race is what people say of you. > > So a person could have, say, partly Latino and partly white heritage, but people will say one or the other based on what they look like. (Some of these people would be seen as Latino, and some not.) I’m often mistaken for Latina, but I’m not. I think I agree with the general premise here, but not the way it’s worded. If you’re multi-ethnic, you may identify more strongly with one particular ethnic group based on how you’re perceived by other people. But I couldn’t legitimately claim to be Latina just because I look that way. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-ethnicity-needed-to-be-the-first-_____-president/828285/27 "2019-02-04T21:26:55Z")
> [@Kimera757](#): > > Tiger Woods is multi-racial, and calls himself that, but he is black because black people, white people and people in general see him as black. In the US. In Asia, he’s Asian. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-ethnicity-needed-to-be-the-first-_____-president/828285/28 "2019-02-04T22:14:24Z")
> [@Kimera757](#): > > Your race is what people say of you. This. I have an olive-complected friend of Eastern European descent (Germany–ish). He was raised mostly in Chicago, and he didn’t get much sun. Then he and his mom moved to Louisiana, he tanned up over the summer and started school, and things got weird. The Black kids would beat on him for being White, and the White kids would beat on him for being Black. His dad wasn’t around so there wasn’t any good way to clear it up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-ethnicity-needed-to-be-the-first-_____-president/828285.md?page=1)